U.S.-flagged cruise ship aground in Lake Barkley
Salvage efforts are ongoing to free a cruise ship that ran aground in Lake Barkley, within the Cumberland River, near the Kentucky town of Cadiz.
Donjon-SMIT is leading the effort to refloat American Jazz, which became stuck on July 7 while cruising between Memphis and Nashville with 120 passengers.
American Cruise Lines, the ship’s operator, said the vessel is not damaged and that there were no injuries or pollution as a result of the grounding.
Salvors have used divers to assess the riverbed to help develop a plan to refloat the ship. Towboats also attempted to remove the ship, without success.
More on the incident can be found here.
Damen to build Multicat dredge vessels for GLDD
Damen Shipyards Group has announced an agreement with Conrad Industries to build two Multicat 3013 units for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock.
The vessels, which meet U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stability criteria, will be the first two of their kind in the United States. They can be used in a way that eliminates the need for derrick barges, towboats and other support vessels.
Damen’s Multicats are equipped with large winches and deck cranes that allow them to handle pipelines above or below the surface and perform anchor handling and other duties, Damen said.
More about the Multicats can be found here.
Five more plead guilty in Coast Guard test-fixing scheme
Five more people have pleaded guilty in connection to a test-fixing scheme at the Coast Guard’s Regional Exam Center in Mandeville, La.
The number of people convicted has risen to 26, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is overseeing the prosecutions stemming from allegations of fraud at the testing center.
The scheme reportedly involved mariners paying bribes to have their own credentialling exams fixed in some cases, and in others false scores were entered on behalf of mariners.
The exams at issue tested mariners’ knowledge and training to safely operate under the authority of merchant mariner licenses, which were legally required to work various positions on vessels.
Charges are still pending against the alleged mastermind of the scheme.
Click here for additional details.
Coast Guard seeking ideas for mass-rescue device
The U.S. Coast Guard is looking for new ideas for products that would save lives during mass casualty events at sea.
The service, along with the Department of Homeland Security, is soliciting proposals for the large-scale floating device, which must meet specific parameters for size, weight, shelf-life and effectiveness.
Proposals are due by August 5.
More details can be found here.
